Until the enactment of DIFC Law No. 1/2020 Leasing Law, amended by DIFC Law No. 2/2022, all leases in respect of premises in the DIFC were governed solely by DIFC Law No. 10/2018 DIFC Real Property Law, and prior to that, DIFC Law No. 4/2007 DIFC Real Property Law.

The growth of the DIFC and the clarification of the areas of dispute between lessors and lessees have led to the necessity for the expansion of the ambit of the statutory protection of rights particularly in respect of residential leases and thereby tempering the right of parties to a residential lease to regulate their relationship contractually through the terms of their lease.